US couple Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel feared dead after yacht stolen by Caribbean prisoners

A Virginia couple is feared dead after three escaped prisoners stole their docked yacht from a docked marina in the Caribbean and fled to another island.

Ralph Hendry and his wife Kathy Brandel, who live on their yacht, Simplicity, were last seen by a boating neighbor in the St. George area on Sunday afternoon as they headed to a restaurant on the island nation of Grenada.

The pair live on their boat during the winter and had arrived on the island two weeks prior, intending to stay another week before they went missing.

“On Sunday, they went into the town around 3 o’clock because another boater saw them go into town,” Hendry’s sister, Suellen Desmarais told Fox 5 DC. “The other boater, when he went to bed, he noticed that they were there cause you always look to see who is around you and in the morning, when the boater woke up, they were gone.”

Hendry and Brandel have sailed the same route for the past few years, sailing from Virginia to Massachusetts before heading down to Florida to visit Desmarais and eventually heading down to the Caribbean where they would island hop, according to ABC News.

They went missing the same day that three fugitives, Ron Mitchell, 30, Trevon Robertson, 19, and Abita Stanislaus, 25, “escaped lawful custody” earlier Sunday.

The trio escaped the South St. George Police Station and made their way to the marina, where they fled to another Caribbean island.

“Preliminary information emanating from investigators in St Vincent suggests that the three men made their way to St Vincent via a yacht which was docked in the St. George area,” the statement read.

They were subsequently captured by authorities on Wednesday in St. Vincent and the Grenadines at around 4:35 p.m.

“The RGPF is currently working on leads that suggest that the two occupants of the yacht may have been killed in the process,” the Royal Grenada Police Force said in a press release.

“It is believed that the occupants of the yacht were American citizens.”

The Royal Grenada Police Force said the three suspects were being held at the South St George Police Station and face one count of robbery with violence.

Mitchell, a sailor, was separately charged with one count of Rape, three counts of Attempted Rape, two counts of Indecent Assault, and Causing Harm.

The Simplicity was recovered by authorities after a good Samaritan found it anchored off of a St. Vincent beach, where they boarded it and discovered the boat had been ransacked and “found evidence of apparent violence.”

Desmarais, however, is holding out for hope the couple is still alive.

“Why would I presume anyone is dead with no body and DNA? I want to remain positive. I want to believe that they are alive.”

Hendry and Brandel’s two children and Hendry’s nephew traveled to St. Vincent and the Grenadines to join the search for the couple on Friday, according to the outlet.

“This investigation is in its infancy stage and the RGPF have dispatched a team of senior investigators and a forensic specialist to St. Vincent in furtherance of this investigation,” the RGPF’s statement concluded.